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Bubble…Bubble…Splash…and…Guzzle…

Funny…you do something for one reason…and it turns out taking on a life of its own…in a totally different direction…case in point…the bubbling rock in my back yard…

I thought I had it installed…because I love the sound of running water…because…it was a great addition to the dry creek that my landscaper designed to handle my drainage problem…because it was just cool…

Evidently I had it installed for the pleasure and convenience of the neighborhood wild…and not so wild…life…

No sooner had the water started flowing…than my squirrels started boasting to their friends that…their person had installed a…water fountain…

Of course…they invited them over for a drink…the only polite, social thing to do…and squirrels are quite the social animals…

When the rock got slimy…I added a bit of bleach to it…salt crystals formed on the rock…wa-la…a built in salt block…now a full service rock…nothing is too good for my squirrels…

Before long some of the neighborhood dogs discovered it…and…it wasn’t that they didn’t have bowls full of water at home…but…every dog knows that water tastes better coming through a rock…hello…

I’m sure kids would have tried it as well…they seem to agree with dogs on such matters…but alas…we are a community of grown-ups…

Although…birds soon followed…and it quickly became a rock of the masses…completely transcending its humble beginnings as a mere water feature…

Yes…it still made a delightful gurgling sound…yes…it was calming…but it was also delightfully entertaining on a whole new level…watching all the different species…carefully make their way to it for a drink…or a splash…like children on the playground…sometime sharing…sometimes not…

I’ve served water to birds that I’ve never seen before…some that I haven’t been able to fully identify…not even with Google…I’m posting their picture…they were tiny…and about 20 of them would get on the rock at one time…hopping across each other’s backs to get to the precious stream…they literally drank it dry twice in the two weeks they were in the area…

The latest addition was a group of Cedar Waxwings this past weekend…I’d never seen them before…loved their yellow tipped tails…I hope they will hang around…but they may have just been passing through…

I just am delighted that…of all the bubbling rocks…in all the towns in all the world…they flew into mine…